Information for schools, teachers and parents

KMMS in the community

Kent and Medway Medical School is the first medical school in the region and will help meet the demand of the clinical workforce needed to support the rising population in Kent and Medway in the future.

At KMMS, we are committed to inspiring future healthcare professionals by raising aspirations, supporting young people’s choices and encouraging progression into medicine or health related careers.

We work closely with schools and sixth-form colleges across Kent, Medway and further afield, to encourage students to consider studying medicine. We support prospective students to gain valuable insights, advice and information that will enable them to understand whether a medical degree is right for them, information and guidance about what qualifications are required, and how to produce the strongest application to medical school.

We also support parents and carers across the south east to give accurate and detailed information about KMMS and medicine as a career, and to explore opportunities for prospective students.

We attend careers fairs and events in the region to provide information to students who are interested in applying to study medicine.

Widening access to medicine

We want to encourage aspiring doctors from all backgrounds to seriously consider medicine as a career.

We are committed to widening access to medical degrees and have ambitious targets to recruit students from Kent, Medway and further afield, who have the talent and aspiration to study medicine, and are from under-represented groups or disadvantaged backgrounds.

We offer a range of widening participation activities for schools and colleges. Working with Year 9s and upwards, our sustained outreach programme will prepare talented young people from Kent and Medway to study medicine with us.

Both Canterbury Christ Church University and University of Kent have a proven record of effective, collaborative and evidence-based widening participation activity.

If you have any questions about any of our programmes, please contact us.

“Through the excellent and informative outreach work from KMMS we now have students who are very excited about medicine and understand their next steps”
Tim Fox, Senior Vice Principal & Head of Academic College, The Canterbury Academy

Careers Information and Schools Outreach

Our outreach programme is designed to make young people aware of the potential careers in medicine and healthcare, and encouraging them to explore their options and make informed choices about their future.

Years 9 to 11

Through our work with students from a young age, we hope to introduce them to the idea of medicine early, encouraging students to study medicine who may not have otherwise considered it as an option. We also integrate the idea of medicine into existing STEM clubs run by the universities in our partner schools in order to raise aspirations and make medicine more accessible to a wider range of students from different backgrounds.

Years 12 and 13

We visit schools to talk to students and to help with the application process, covering topics such as how to choose a medical school, the admissions process and how the interview process works.

Work Experience Advice

Work experience is a vital part of applying to study medicine. It allows students to gain an insight into the field and make an informed decision about whether medicine is right for them. Work experience also allows students to discover other roles within the health and social care sector which they may not have otherwise been aware of.

It is recognised that not all students will have the same access to work experience and that clinical work experience can be hard to come by. However, applicants should aim to get a variety of experiences in order to demonstrate a commitment to medicine as well as an understanding of what a career in medicine entails. Experiences should also allow students to demonstrate some of the skills and attributes required by doctors. Examples of these can be found in the Medical Schools Council statement on the core values and attributes needed to study medicine.

Useful resources for work experience:

The Medical Schools Council provides information and guidance on work experience for students.

The British Medical Association also provides information on how to become a doctor as well as advice for students on work experience.

Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust publish a guide to their volunteering opportunities

For school requests, please e-mail us at futuredoctors@kmms.ac.uk